to be.
“Don’t go.”
“We’re leaving soon,” I announced as if it explained why I was so eager to go. Every second I spent with her was like barbed wire around my heart. She was bleeding me dry, and she didn’t even notice.
“It’s still a few hours to Denver.” She paused, and I knew she was weighing the chance of me saying yes to the question on her mind. “Keep me company?”
I could no longer hold my thoughts in when I whirled around to face her. I’d have plenty of time to be disappointed in myself later. “Why would I do that?”
Twenty-four hours ago, I would have never told her no.
Braxton paused as if realizing this before drawing her knees to her chest and hugging her legs. “You’re mad at me.”
What was your first clue?
“No,” I lied and shook my head as if that would convince us both. “I have no reason to be.”
That part was true, at least. Braxton was free to fuck who she wanted. I just didn’t realize how deep it would cut when she didn’t choose me.
“Yes, you are,” she called me out. “Tell me why.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I turned to go, but my feet felt too heavy to carry me forward.
The mattress was memory foam, making movement impossible to hear. I didn’t know she’d stood from the bed until her soft hand was in mine.
“Stay with me, Jericho. You can still hate me. Just stay with me.”
“I don’t,” I said against my will. I swallowed hard, shoving the rest of the idiotic words down. Unfortunately, she pressed her tits against my arm in a move that seemed too calculated for Braxton not to have done it intentionally.
“You don’t what?”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Then why won’t you look at me?”
Because I was too busy staring at a spot on the wall as if it held the answers to why I kept fucking up my life. The more I became invested in Braxton, the deeper my hole grew. “Because you’re Houston’s now. That means I shouldn’t want the things I do when I look at you.”
She placed her hands on my chest, and I let her push my back against the door.
“I can be yours too.”
Rising to the tips of her toes, Braxton pressed her lips against mine. I didn’t kiss her back. I held out as long as it took her to flick her tongue against my lip ring and then the seam of my lips. I gave in then with the eagerness of a boy finally reaching first base and the skill of a man who’d been starving.
She tasted too good to be true.
I let her have her way to see what she’d do without anyone leading, and she didn’t disappoint. She was as insatiable as Houston claimed. We’d stop in between long enough to take a breath and then be back at it like we couldn’t survive being apart for too long. Her lips were softer and fuller than I imagined they’d feel against mine, and the little sounds she made had me thinking of other devious ways to use them.
I always knew Braxton was in my head.
She proved as much when she dropped to her knees in front of me.
I didn’t stop her when she unbuckled my belt and pulled the tab on my jeans free. Before she could unzip me, though, I grabbed her wrists. “You don’t have to do this,” I told her and immediately wished I could take it back. “I’ll stay.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” She pulled her hands away.
Fuck.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through the night. I’d never been this hard. Instead of standing, however, she held my gaze.
Brown was the most common eye color, but on Braxton, her gaze felt like being caught in a cosmic storm.
No matter how much her eyes gave away, I was always left feeling more befuddled than before.
I was too caught up, wondering what was happening inside her head, to notice her undoing my zipper. I snapped out of it in time to push my jeans and boxers down enough to free my dick.
Braxton wasted no time licking the tip. I felt like I was fourteen again and about to receive my first blow job. Only this time, I was emotionally invested.
After teasing the head until her mouth was nice and wet, she slowly took more of me. I liked that she didn’t concentrate too hard on getting me off or think that looking away would somehow make sucking my dick